Michael Ian Black

By the end of 1993, The State had secured a deal with MTV for six episodes of a sketch comedy series aptly named "The State", Ravaged by reviewers when it debuted in January 1994, the series nevertheless won decent ratings and a fiercely loyal fan base and stayed on the air for three seasons. Disagreements with MTV and a desire to head to a regular network led to the 1995 demise of the series. A deal with CBS would have them creating holiday specials with the option to become a regular program running against NBC's "Saturday Night Live", but the poor ratings of the CBS-aired "The State's 43rd Annual Halloween Special" (1995) severed that relationship.